Three policemen who were earlier suspended over the Palghar mob lynching case in Maharashtra have now been dismissed from service. This includes assistant police inspector Anandrao Kale, who was in-charge of Kasa Police Station in Palghar when the incident took place on April 16. Two others are assistant sub-inspector Ravi Salunke and constable Naresh Dhodi, he said.
"The Inspector General (IG) of Police, Konkan Range dismissed the trio from service through an order issued on Saturday," the official added.
These three police personnel, along with five others, had been placed under suspension following the incident, he said.
Two seers and their driver were lynched by a mob in Gadchinchale village in Palghar, Maharashtra on the night of April 16 while they were travelling to Surat to attend a funeral. The mob is said to have mistaken them for rumoured child-lifters in the area. Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri (70), Sushil Giri Maharaj (35), and their driver Nilesh Telgade (30) were the ones attacked and they later succumbed to their injuries.
Till date, as many as 154 people have been arrested and 11 juveniles have been detained in connection with the incident. The accused in the case were charged with murder, armed rioting and using criminal force to prevent a public servant from doing his duty, among other offences, police said.
The case was later handed over to the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for the probe. It has filed three charge sheets in the case. The state government took immediate action suspending Kale and seven other policemen. 35 police constables and personnel of other ranks were transferred post the lynching.
The government had also sent the then Palghar district police chief, Gaurav Singh, on forced leave.